Monday, January 26, 2009

National Health Care, The New Government Cheese

You ever have government cheese? It looks gross. It smells gross. It comes in a big block, because the government can't figure out how to slice it efficiently. It's like Velveeta's red headed step child(my apologies to red headed step children, and to cheese lovers for referring to Velveeta as cheese.)

We have a new liberal president. So naturally the national debate will now turn to health care. The libs want national health care and they want it now. It sounds wonderful. The government will pay for your health care. The government can do it, right? Well to get a better feel for what national health care looks like, let us look to our red headed step child to the north, Canada (my apologies to red headed step children for comparing them to Canadians.)

This is from the CBCNEWS.CA;

"Despite government promises and the billions of dollars funnelled into the Canadian health-care system, the average patient waited more than 18 weeks in 2007 between seeing their family doctor and receiving the surgery or treatment they required," said NadeemEsmail, director of Health System Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report, in a release( www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/10/15/fraser-report.html. )"

Here are more fun facts from the Frasier Institute report(a non-partisan group.) What if you need an MRI? That's a 10 week wait. If your doctor thinks you may have a brain tumor and sends you off for a CT scan, that's a 5 week wait. How would you like be a part of this conversation?

"Hey Mr. Johnson, we think you may have a brain tumor. We will know more in 5 weeks, have a nice day."

National health care is great, until you get sick.

But it's free, the government pays for it. Well that means we all pay for it.

"The average tax rate in Canada is higher than in the United States. In Canada total tax and non-tax revenue for every level of government equals about 37% of GDP, compared to the U.S. rate of 27%( www.diffen.com.)"

So long waits, rationed service and higher taxes. Sounds like a great plan!

I know some will say that we can do it better. But name me anything the government does better than the private sector?

Social Security (going bankrupt.)Medicare (soon to be bankrupt.)Disaster relief (there are still people on roofs in New Orleans.)Blow up other countries(okay, they are good at that.)

There is no doubt something needs to be done about health insurance. Too many people don't have it, and those that are insured are struggling to pay high premiums and co-pays. But there is one thing that will bring costs down, competition. And that my friends can only be possible if it stays out of government hands. The private sector can provide good health care and make better cheese.

2 comments:

My favorite was (they changed it and I didn't think to save it) the US State dept. website used to have a warning to all US citizens traveling to Canada. It said something to the effect of "doctors don't take new patients, and you will spend a few days waiting in the ER, so don't get sick or injured while in Canada".